Pressure-treated wood has been around for nearly 70 years, yet most of us still know very little about this popular outdoor building material. To start, pressure-treated wood is softwood lumber, ...

It’s also a tasty snack, at least for fungi and insects such as termites. On a molecular level, wood is about three-quarters polymerized sugars that are indigestible to humans and most other animals.

Aaron Pilch was on a quest for two pieces of wood. It took him three weeks to find them. The do-it-yourselfer recently needed the 2-inch-by-12-inch-by-12-foot planks of pressure-treated pine to make ...

When choosing decking, the three factors I consider first are appearance, durability and cost, and any other builder likely does the same. When building a standard deck — and not a high-end one using ...

Pressure treatment forces chemical preservatives into the cellular structure of wood. These chemicals are undesirable in mulch or compost, so if your scrap lumber is lined with tiny holes or stained ...

Q. I have a deck that was constructed from pressure treated wood. The deck is about 8-10 years old. I have lived in the house for 6-7 years. The former owners never waterproofed the deck or cleaned it ...

Q. I am building several outdoor projects with pressure-treated wood. I’ve been told that the wood should be stained. I was under the impression that pressure-treated wood would last in its natural ...

Q: Thanks so much for your very informative article on composite decking materials ("All decked out," July 9). My husband and I installed a pressure-treated deck about 15 years ago. We did not know ...

A shortage in pressure-treated lumber is causing a number of outdoor home improvement projects to be shelved this summer. “People have been calling here who live an hour away,” said John Kalife at ...